The average monthly income for a person living in Ecuador is $355.00. Most people in the city prefer the public transit system to get to and from work and mail is still a primary way of communication even though we did see people using cell phones. There are still tribal people in remote areas and often kids come into the city from the islands selling candy and cigarettes to make money. As a photographer all of these things make Ecuador super appealing because of the unique culture, climate and love of life that shows on the faces of everyone there.

On the fifth day our trip changed…we made changes due to not having the opportunity to shoot as much as we had hoped. In the morning I was awake early and shooting out my window the view on the water of the local fishing boats in the bay and the fishermen along the shore with their nets.

I had a beautiful room, the windows looked out over the water with side deck and hammock near the dock. In the room there was a glass area on the floor where I could see the tide rise and watch the small crabs when the tide was low.

Once everyone was up we all were served a wonderful breakfast of fresh squeezed juices, fruit with fresh baked bread with jam.

After we ate I watched Alfredo’s team feed their 135 year old turtle by hand and water him down. He seemed to love the water and almost appeared to be smiling. He was rescued from the rubble of the recent earthquake 2 years ago.

Photo by Jason Lyell

This is a day we will visit areas that suffered a large amount of damage from the 2016 Earthquake that registered at 7.8, killed 668 people, with 8 missing and more than 6000 hurt. We saw some evidence of it in Guayaquil but the Canoa, Bahía de Caráquez, San Vicente and surrounding areas damage was much more apparent from vacant buildings to streets and sidewalk destruction. We all went down to the dock after breakfast and broke off into two groups to board boats on the water. They took us up the channel to see the damage from the waterside as well as experience fisherman working from their boats in the bay area.

Photo by Kathleen Munkel

Photo by Katilin Pointer

After several hours of shooting we arrived back at the hotel where we packed up to visit Sendero los Caimanes for lunch where the locals caught the fish and cooked our meal while we watched.

Lunch was a combo of fried fish, fish roe, rice and plantains served with fresh juice and coconut water.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for our last adventure of the day. The people at the hotel were making fresh bread in the kitchen for our breakfast the next morning.

Later we rode into the small town of San Vicente by bus to shoot street photos of the locals. We broke off into two groups and were escorted around with local police to be sure we were safe with our gear. It was nice to see the local children coming up to the police and hugging them, they seemed to really admire them and what they do. We walked for several blocks capturing the local people smiling and enjoying their late afternoon daily activities.

Before we left we caught a beautiful sunset along the shore of Gad Municipal de San Vicente.

As we were headed back to the hotel we stopped at a local sports pub for dinner to complete another long day of travel.

Before I headed off to bed I went into the kitchen for some water and had the pleasure of a rare sighting of the local sloth visiting the kitchen. Alfredo said he has been making himself at home there for 45 years.

A few of us took the invite to again experience the Tibetan Singing Bowls at Saiananda this time performed by Alfredo’s son. As I laid in bed that night I was happy we finally had the chance to really see the local culture and shoot some great photos. The students seemed to be happier and more relaxed with our day activities and of course that made me feel good about the trip. Hold tight, day 6 is on the way and even better!!!!

In the morning after my cricket fiasco I got up and was ready to go, we were told we could come back after our excursion to shower before checking out of our rooms. We walked down the road toward the pier in Puerto Lopez, this is a beautiful and quaint fishing village in an arched bay in the Ecuadorian Manabí Province. The beach had boats along the shore and fishermen coming in and going out for their daily activity of earning a living.

We stopped for breakfast along the way at the Patacon Pisa’o Restaurant before heading out by boat for our special experience.

As we left the restaurant Mathew stopped a guy on a motorcycle and asked if he would give Eric a ride to the pier, the man obliged!

As I got to the pier there was a local gentleman standing at the entrance and I motioned if he would allow me to take a picture, he smiled and I was able to get this photo as I walked toward the boat.

Ecuador has 1627 confirmed bird species and today we get to experience one seabird that will keep the jokes coming all day long. Fishing is one of the most important enterprises in Puerto Lopéz and their most common fish include amberjack, dolphin, wahoo, marlin, and several different species of tuna.

We boarded a boat not far from the restaurant and after about an hour boat ride we arrived to the Isla de la Plata island in the South Pacific Ocean.

Photo by Jason Lyell

The weather was hot and humid and there was a slight drizzle of mist that made it feel hot and sticky along the dry trail. Today we were to visit the ecological reserve of the Machalilla National Park where we hiked up a mile long loop of stairs to at Los Acantilados.

Photo by Kathleen Munkel

It was 90+ degrees and at least 90% humidity, that mixed in with the extreme staircase uphill hike made for a very difficult adventure. I was worried about some of the other students having heat stroke, several of my students were very fair complected and I hoped that they remembered to put a strong sunscreen on as the sun was now fully shining.

Photo by Jason Lyell

Along the hike we saw various colonies of marine birds that inhabit this landscape including the blue footed booby. For hours we all laughed at the comments you can imagine come from seeing boobies…yes we are all 12 years old but what is life without a little humor!

Once we got to the top we enjoyed a breathtaking view of the water below, it was a great place to rest before heading back down the trail.

Mathew shot some footage of the students near the cliff for the video he would put together later for the college.

Photo by Christina Emfinger

Photo by Kathleen Munkel

After the hike we got on the boat and searched for an area to snorkel off the rocky shore line. In the distance we spotted a humpback whale jumping out of the water but it was too far away to really enjoy, we were not in the peak season for seeing the whales unfortunately.

Half the group went in the water to snorkel, it was colder now and I was coming down with something so I opted to not swim. The ones that did go snorkeling seemed to enjoy the view of coral below.

Photo by Jason Lyell

Photo by Jason Lyell

It was time to head back in to shore and after our long ride back we realized we were late and two of the rooms had been cleaned out for new guest. Once we coped with the craziness of cleaning up, packing and getting on the bus in a hurry we stopped for some lunch. I couldn’t wait to get some Ceviche with shrimp and octopus…it was wonderful.

Now it was time to head a couple of hours north on to Bahia de Caraquez. We would stay at this location until our last day and looked forward to having the same room more than one night. Once we arrived we were greeted by Chantal and Alfredo at the Saiananda hotel, it was so nice to know we would be staying at this beautiful place on the water for the next 4 days. Later Alfredo had his staff prepare a vegetarian Ecuadorian dinner with rice, plantains, soup and salad and we ate family style in an open area of the hotel right next to the water.

After this fourth day of travel our experience will take a big turn. This is the first trip we have ever put together for a travel abroad class and although it appears to be going perfectly, the truth is it is not working from a standpoint of how a true photography travel assignment would go. I am frustrated with so many travel miles, historical hikes and super long days with no ability to teach or shoot during the right daylight hours. The students are exhausted and showing signs of being upset. I have been extremely stressed myself not to mention Mat and I are coming down with some funk I am sure is due to pressure and lack of sleep. It is nothing that could have been anticipated beforehand but Mat and I both realize we need to spend more time shooting and less time traveling. After I get an ok from the folks at Nossi back in the US, Mat and I meet with Chantal and Alfredo that evening to see how things can be changed to allow us more shooting time. We need better opportunities to shoot with good light at the right time of day, we also need to capture more than candid behind the scenes travel, birds, and landscape photos. My goal is to let the students capture the culture and other aspects of the way the Ecuadorian people live. I have shot many travel assignments in my 20+ years of being a commercial photographer and this trip is a wonderful opportunity for the students to document the culture. Moving forward that is exactly what they will get to do.

We finished out our night with a complimentary meditation of “Tibetan Singing Bowls” in a special room of the hotel hosted by Alfredo and Chantal. It was a wonderful way to end a long hot stressful day of travel. This is a snippet before the lights went off and I was able to enjoy the experience.

I hope you will come back soon for day five when our trip takes a complete and transforming turn that will forever change all of us.

The temperatures in Ecuador don’t change much throughout the year, so the seasons of spring, summer, winter, and fall pass unnoticed. It is hot, humid and tropical to subtropical with a rainy season lasting for several months depending on the region you are visiting. Because of its location at the equator, Ecuador experiences little variation in daylight hours during the course of a year. Both sunrise and sunset occur each day at the two six o’clock hours.

Day 3 –Sunday, April 22

I was up before the sun the next morning because I didn’t sleep well and I wanted to catch the sunrise. I walked out alone to the beach but unfortunately it was a little cloudy, as I walked back to my room I awoke one of two dogs lying outside of a room and was startled. I noticed a van in the lot next to the room with a sticker that said “raised on the road,” it intrigued me so I wrote the name in my journal. The evening before I noticed a young couple with two small kids and the two dogs walking around the beach. Upon my return to Nashville I searched Instagram, found their page and have enjoyed following them and their interesting story, a family of 4 traveling the world in a Land Rover.

When I got back to my room I saw that several others were also up early so we walked back to the beach and sat at the beachfront restaurant area of our hotel watching the dogs roam around.

Eventually the rest of our group joined us and we all enjoyed a breakfast of bread with butter and jam, eggs, fruit and fresh juice before packing up for out next destination.

We were off to Manabí via the Spondylus Route “Ruta del Sol” visiting small fisherman villages along the way. We stopped at the Santuario Blanca Estrella del Mar near the ocean side where we saw a cross in the distance, a local vendor setting up along the quiet highway and the shore line from a cliff where we could see for miles.

When we arrived at the beach of the surf town Manabí, the students experienced the culture where the locals would grind ice by crank and add the syrup of choice creating a tasty shaved ice snack similar to what we call a snow-cone.

As we walked along the beach taking it all in there were all kinds of things to take pictures of and so many things were different than what we are used to in the states. The students photographed the men with ceviche carts as they shucked oysters and made their fresh delicacies ala carte oceanside. We all sampled one from this guy and it was wonderful!

Everyone was so laid back and happy everywhere we went, and they appeared to not care very much about material possessions or time. Mathew said that most of the Ecuadorian people loved tourist because they appreciated the money tourist spent on their products and services.

After shooting at the beach we were off to our next destination stopping for some dessert in a small town along the way with beautiful vibrant colors of pink, blue and yellow. Mathew wanted us to experience the sweet desserts that were made from the cane sugar the locals grew in their area. All of their food was fresh made and everything tasted so different because nothing was processed like we are accustomed to back home.

We stopped at the Agua Blanca-museum for a tour of the and learned of some history about Balseros Del Mar Del Sur, an archeological area revealing one of the most ancient cultures in South America.

At another museum we learned more about the early culture of Ecuador, about the pottery and other relics. We saw samples of local snakes in a jar (I thought they were cool) and we walked out along the trails for more history from Norby and a guide from the museum.

Our next destination was Puerto Lopez where we would stay the night. We stopped on the way into town at a seaside restaurant for a late lunch and did a little shopping along the beachside streets. This was the mixed seafood stir fry with fresh local avocado I had…it was really, really good and only 12$!

TheCabañas Playa Sur hotel where we checked into our rooms that evening was really cool. The rooms were more like huts, they had nice tiled bathrooms and were clean with the typical Ecuador construction of bamboo and palm-leaf thatch roof. In mine there was screen in the upper section and an oscillating fan. The back part of the property had several hammocks available for the guest to lounge in and the path to the front led directly to the beach….a Gilligan Island of sorts!

The guys, Eric and Jason, seemed excited about this new place and went out for a swim with some of the other students before sunset. It was the first down time we had found since the beginning of the trip…but only lasted about an hour because we needed to get out on the beach for the sunset to shoot.

Inside of my room there was a cute wooden table with two stools and the bed had mosquito netting above that I would use that evening as all the rooms were equipped the same. I would find out later why…

By the end of the day we wrapped up with another night of shooting on the beach in the town of Puerto Lopez capturing the locals and a few visitors along the shore.

There were fishing boats pulled up on the sand, some were coming in and others were just heading out into the surf of the Pacific. People played soccer along the beaches, dogs roamed freely and everyone seemed to enjoy the beautiful evening sunset.

Photo by Kathleen Munkel

After yet another very long day we settled into our rooms at the Cabañas Playa Sur hotel where you could hear the waves along the beach while lying in bed. It almost felt like camping but with a mattress in place of a sleeping bag. Soon I would find out just how similar it was being out in the woods! As I laid there exhausted I felt so comfortable and relaxed as I drifted off to sleep, this was the first time on the trip so far I had no problem with falling asleep. Each of our rooms had mosquito nets over the beds but around 3:30 AM I learned in the middle of the night it is best to tuck it under the mattress to keep other kinds of bugs out. Trust me its better to keep them out than keep them in with you! In a panic I instantly awoke with something crawling on me and flicked it away. I found my phone (which I was learning needed to be next to me all night in case I needed a flash light), a cricked had somehow managed to spend most of the night with me and I was desperately searching the bed for the rest of his family. Once I felt I was alone in bed I tucked the netting as far under the mattress from the inside of this tented device and tried to go back to sleep…it took a while.

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